Ornamental material



Sept. 10, 1940. J. STARK ET A]. 2,214,237

- ORNAMENTAL MATERIAL Fi led Dec. 25, 1938 J/reef Ill INVENTORS W PW ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 10, 1940 I z nes:

ORNAMENTAL MATERIAL John Stark, Everett, and Howard E. Christopherson, Mukilteo, Wash.

Application December 23, 1938, Serial No. 247,418

2 Claims.

Our invention is especially adapted for mass production, at inexpensive cost, of these little lumps, hereinafter referred to as flakes, or snowflakes to be used in ornamenting Christmas trees, to represent flying snow-flakes in the moving pic-- ture industry, and also to represent snow-covered ground or other snow-covered surfaces.

In some instances the lumped or flaked material may be prepared and embodied in building Walls, to prevent transmission of sounds and noises; and various other ornamental and useful purposes may be accomplished with the prepared material.

The invention consists in an article of manufacture comprising a light-weight lump of material in the nature of a flake of fibrous material having fibrous fingers projecting from its edges, which, when tossed upon, or dropped upon an irregular surface, will cling by means of its fingers, to the irregular surface. Further the invention consists in making the flake with its clinging edges by tearing out the lump or flake from a suitable sheet of fibrous material.

In carrying out our invention we preferably employ plastic material, or wet pulp, made from fine fibrous material, similar to the stock used in the making of blotting paper, or not unike the fibrous stock having a felt-like base.

When employed in the production of artificial snow-flakes this wet pulp is bleached during the process of forming a web, in order to give the flakes the necessary White appearance of natural snow-flakes.

By the use of suitable web-forming machinery, the fibrous pulp is fashioned into webs of fibrous material, which webs are of desired thickness and width, and the webs are conveyed to a collecting table and severed transversely into sheets by means of a suitable cutter or knife.

From the collecting table, the sheets which may, or may not, be dried to form a tough fibrous body, are conveyed to a perforated die-plate or other suitable device that is used in connection with a plunger having a multiplicity of punches for co-action with the perforated die-plate in the formation of the finished flakes.

The tough, fibrous sheets, it will be understood, are prepared in a dry, stiffened, and unfinished condition. They are not compressed to any substantial degree, and they are not calendered, that is, the sheets are not subjected to such pressure before punching, as would give them smooth even surfaces, but on the other hand the upper and lower faces of the sheets are left uneven or irregular.

These sheets, which are of sufficient thickness to provide a substantial, but light-weight body for the artificial snow-flake, are sufliciently tough to permit a multiplicity of nodules, nodes, little lumps or flakes, to be torn therefrom.

The multiple punches mounted on a plunger descend and pass through, or push through the sheet, not making a clean cut in the sheet, but actually tearing out the nodules, and these nodules fall through the perforations of the die-plate into a receptacle beneath the die-plate. This action of tearing out the nodule from the fibrous sheet causes the formation of fiber-fingers at the edges of the nodule, and after the punches are Withdrawn from the sheet, the latter is left with perforations also having fiber-fingers at the edges of the perforations.

In some instances this perforated sheet may then be shifted to a different position on the perforated die-plate so that solid portions of the sheet again cover the perforations in the dieplate, and these solid portions are punched, as above described, to form additional nodules. Then, the remainder of the perforated sheet may be torn in suitable manner into nodules of the above described character.

As before stated, these clinging flakes may be tossed upon the rough foliage of a Christmas tree, by the handful, and by the fiber-fingers, the flakes cling to the tree with sufficient tenacity so that they remain on the tree during the usual period of ornamentation. In like manner the flakes may be spread over a rough or irregular surface, and the fiber-fingers of the flakes cling to the surface to prevent displacement of the flakes.

When the nodules or little lumps are employed for sound insulation in a building wall, for instance, the nodules may be attached to a suitable board or sheet by spreading the board or sheet with a suitable cement to which the nodules are attached in suitable manner, and the prepared sheet is then embodied in the wall with its smooth face exposed.

In order to illustrate one method that may be employed for fashioning the nodlules or flakes we have illustrated in the accompanying Figures 1 and 2, a conventional apparatus or appliance including a web-forming, endless screen W, a cutter C to sever the web into sheets, and a collecting table T for the severed sheets. The punching mechanism may be of the type utilizing a plunger P having a multiplicity of punches P, and the punches pass through the sheet while the latter is resting on the perforated die-plate D.

The nodules N that are pushed and torn from the sheet pass through holes or perforations D in the die-plate D, and these holes are larger in diameter than the punches P, thus permitting the punch to tear the nodule from the space between the punch and the die-hole.

For convenience, the punch P and the diehole D are indicated as cylindrical, but it will be understood that these members may be of other shapes, in order to produce nodules of the other corresponding shapes.

In some instances the face of the punch is depressed, as at D", and this depression in the face of the punch forms a lobe N on the center of the nodule N. 'As the punch descends and impinges against the top surface of the sheet, the recessed punch enclosed a portion of the upper face of the sheet, not only for the purpose of forming the lobe N, but also for the purpose of retaining the sheet against any lateral movement on the die plate, as the punches pass through the sheet and the die plate.

After the nodules have been pushed and torn from the sheet the latter is filled with holes of greater size than that of the punches, so that the sheet remains flat on the top of the dieplate, and the nodules fall into a receptacle R, or they may be collected or gathered in other suitable manner. Should the nodules have a tendency to stick to the punches, they are displaced as the punches are elevated, by contact of the rough edgs N" coming in contact with the bottom edges of the holes in thedie-plate, or other means may be employed for this displacement or dislodgment of the formed nodules.

While We have illustrated one exemplification of means for forming the nodules, it will be understood that any other suitable means may be employed for this purpose, and as before stated, the nodules may be of various shapes and sizes, provided they are fashioned with rough edges having finger-like fibers projecting therefrom.

The nodules thus fashioned are characterized by a soft flexible body, which is at the same time comparatively tough and sufficiently stiff to maintain the shape required for performing its functions, and the free ends of the finger-like fibers at the edges of the nodule readily cling to an object or surface as hereinbefore described.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An article of manufacture in the form of an exterior-rounded nodule of fibrous material having a continuous outwardly flaring edge, and the free portion of said edge having projecting fibers adapted to cling to an irregular surface.

2. An article of manufacture in the form of an exterior-rounded nodule of fibrous material, said nodule having a continuous outwardly flaring edge forming a depression therein, a central countersunk lobe in said depression, and the free portion of said edge having projecting fibers adapted to cling to an irregular surface.

JOHN STARK. HOWARD E. CHRISTOPHERSON. 

